Dividends & Income Digest: 2015 Retrospective And 2016 Outlook

Summary
Every issue, SA explores a dividend & income investing question and shares the responses.
In this, the final Digest of the year, several authors look back at trends in a variety of dividend & income instruments in 2015, and offer predictions, ideas and opportunities for 2016.
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As 2015 draws to a close, I wanted to feature some reflections on the past year, as well as some predictions for 2016 here in the Digest. It's been a tumultuous year in income stocks - investors watched and waited for an anticipated interest rate hike from the Fed that didn't materialize until year-end; MLPs and related energy companies struggled as a result of tumbling oil prices, setting off a wave of dividend cuts that presented tough decisions and even tougher lessons for some; mREITs had a fairly disappointing year; and a stronger dollar caused even some of the most stalwart of dividend stocks to stumble.
There were high points, too - self-storage and apartment REITs continued to benefit from the rise in renters vs. homeowners, dividend growth stocks like Starbucks did well by investors, and BDCs continued to be fundamentally sound despite being plagued by high yield concerns.
As the chart below shows, income-related sector performance typically goes in waves, and 2015 was no different. It'll be interesting to see how... Read more